A  LIFE  WELL  LIVED 


IN  MEMORY  OF 
ROBERT  CURTIS  OGDEN 


✓ 


\ 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2018  with  funding  from 
Columbia  University  Libraries 


https://archive.org/details/lifewelllivedinmOOunse 


A  LIFE  WELL  LIVED 


IN  MEMORY  OF 
ROBERT  CURTIS  OGDEN 


HAMPTON  INSTITUTE  PRESS 

1914 


BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE 


ON  August  6,  1913,  after  a  long  illness,  Robert  C. 

Ogden  died  at  his  summer  home  in  Kennebunkport, 
Maine.  Mr.  Ogden  was  born  in  Philadelphia  in  1836 ;  in 
1858  he  moved  to  New  York  and  all  his  business  life  was 
spent  in  these  two  cities.  Memorial  services  were  held 
in  New  York  October  26  and  in  Brooklyn,  Novem¬ 
ber  9,  1913.  On  these  occasions  addresses  were  delivered 
by  Dr.  Francis  Brown,  president  of  Union  Theological 
Seminary  ;  Dr.  Francis  G.  Peabody,  vice  president  of  the 
board  of  trustees  of  Hampton  Institute ;  Dr.S.  G.  Mitchell, 
president  of  the  Virginia  Medical  College  ;  Dr.  L.  Mason 
Clarke,  pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  Brook¬ 
lyn  ;  ex-President  William  H.  Taft,  of  Yale  University; 
and  Honorable  Job  E.  Hedges,  of  New  York.  Three  of 
these  addresses,  representing  different  parts  of  the  coun¬ 
try,  are  presented  in  this  pamphlet. 

In  the  death  of  Robert  C.  Ogden,  Hampton  Institute 
has  experienced  one  of  the  greatest  losses  in  its  history. 
A  member  of  its  board  of  trustees  since  1874  and  president 
of  that  body  since  1894,  he  has  had  much  to  do  with  the 
wonderful  growth  of  this  school,  founded  in  1868  by  his 
friend,  General  Samuel  Chapman  Armstrong. 

Their  friendship,  begun  on  that  day  more  than  forty- 
five  years  ago,  when  young  Armstrong,  after  a  long  jour¬ 
ney  from  his  Hawaiian  home,  carried  to  Mr.  Ogden  in 
New  York  a  letter  of  introduction,  continued  steadfast 
and  unbroken  until  General  Armstrong’s  death  in  1893. 
And  the  result  of  that  friendship — a  lifelong  devotion  on 
Mr.  Ogden’s  part,  of  his  time,  thought,  money,  and  influ¬ 
ence  to  the  type  of  education  which  his  friend  had  given 
his  life — is  today  shown  in  the  success  of  Hampton  and 


4 


A  LIFE  WELL  LIVED 


Tuskegee  Institutes  as  exponents  of  that  type  of  educa¬ 
tion-learning  by  doing  and  the  development  of  character 
through  self-help. 

No  details  of  a  large  and  absorbing  business  ever  in¬ 
terfered  with  Mr.  Ogden’s  annual  trip  to  Hampton  with 
a  party  of  friends  as  his  guests,  who  were  asked  to  take 
part  in  the  ceremony  of  laying  the  corner  stone  of  some 
new  building  or  invited  to  note  the  mute  appeal  of 
a  foundation  dug  by  willing  hands  but  waiting  for  the 
wherewithal  to  erect  the  much-needed  superstructure. 
These  friends  never  failed  to  gain  new  inspiration  and 
greater  incentive  to  work  for  others,  or  to  carry  away  in 
their  hearts  stronger  faith  in  the  work  for  downtrodden 
races,  which  in  those  days  was  to  Hampton’s  founder  a 
tremendous  struggle  against  great  odds.  Never  did  Mr. 
Ogden  fail  him  or  his  successor,  and  present-day  Hamp¬ 
ton  can  never  appreciate  too  highly  the  devotion  of  the 
courteous,  kindly,  generous-hearted  man  it  has  been 
accustomed  to  see  moving  about  its  campus  year  after 
year. 

In  the  fall  of  1896,  Mr.  Ogden  delivered  an  address  at 
the  opening  of  the  Hampton  Trade  School  in  which  he 
spoke  of  the  new  opportunity  it  afforded  the  Negro  to 
hold  his  own,  industrially,  in  the  South.  He  always  wel¬ 
comed  every  such  opportunity,  not  only  at  Hampton  but 
in  the  world  outside.  He  was  a  true  friend  to  the  Negro 
and  Indian  races  and  to  all  other  backward  peoples.  The 
graduates  of  Hampton  count  among  their  dearest  memo¬ 
ries  the  words  of  fatherly  advice  they  heard  on  Anniver¬ 
sary  Day  from  the  president  of  the  board  of  trustees,  as 
he  sent  them  out  to  their  life  work. 

It  is  eminently  fitting  that,  on  account  of  Mr.  Ogden’s 
long  devotion  to  the  work  of  the  Hampton  School,  some 
permanent  memorial  be  erected  to  him  there  which  will 
always  associate  his  name  with  the  institution.  What  form 
such  a  memorial  will  take  will  be  determined  later. 


ROBERT  CURTIS  OGDEN 


* 


BY  FRANCIS  GREENWOOD  PEABODY 
Formerly  Plummer  Professor  of  Christian  Morals  at  Harvard  Univerity 

1WISH  I  might  express  in  behalf  of  Hampton  Institute — 
its  trustees,  its  teachers,  and  its  pupils — something  of 
the  love  and  gratitude  there  so  deeply  felt  for  Robert 
Ogden.  Among  the  many  public  interests  of  his  varied 
life  none  was  nearer  to  his  heart  than  the  service  of  Hamp¬ 
ton,  and  nowhere  was  he  more  completely  appreciated 
and  revered.  He  was  drawn  to  this  care  of  the  colored 
race  by  the  irresistible  magnetism  of  Samuel  Armstrong, 
whom  he  had  known  and  loved  since  Armstrong  first 
reached  this  country  from  Hawaii,  and  many  of  the  qual¬ 
ities  of  that  chilvalric  leader  of  men — single-mindedness, 
courage,  self-forgetfulness,  the  complete  and  happy  devo¬ 
tion  to  a  great  cause — were  transmitted  by  the  subtle  pro¬ 
cesses  of  spiritual  heredity  to  this  loyal  friend.  “  I  never 
gave  up  or  sacrificed  anything  in  my  life,,J  wrote  Armstrong 
in  the  touching  memoranda  found  after  his  death,  and 
after  having  apparently  sacrificed  everything  to  serve  a 
few  colored  boys  and  girls.  The  same  unconsciousness  of 
sacrifice,  the  same  gaiety  of  demeanor  amid  difficult  du¬ 
ties,  marked  each  step  in  Mr.  Ogden’s  self-sacrificing  love 
of  Hampton.  The  most  self-distrustful  or  disheartened 
teacher  found  herself  sustained  by  his  beneficent  smile ; 
the  most  blundering  or  timid  pupil  stood  more  erect  in  soul 
as  in  body  as  his  erect  and  gracious  friend  returned 
salute.  The  chill  of  January  softened  as  by  the  sudden 

*  Address  at  the  Ogden  Memorial  Service  at  the  Central  Presbyterian  Church,  New 
York,  October  26,  1913 


6 


A  LIFE  WELL  LIVED 


coming  of  spring  in  Virginia  when  on  some  winter  morning 
Mr.  Ogden  unexpectedly  appeared  at  the  school.  General 
Armstrong  died  in  1893,  and  in  1894  Mr.  Ogden  became 
President  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  Hampton,  of  which 
he  had  already  been  a  member  for  nineteen  years.  Dur¬ 
ing  these  last  twenty  years  the  administration  of  Hampton 
has  steadily  leaned  on  his  discretion,  foresight,  and  devo¬ 
tion.  Many  consecrated  lives  and  many  generous  bene¬ 
factions  have  been  wrought  into  the  work,  and  Mr.  Ogden 
would  be  the  last  to  claim  as  his  achievement  the  expan¬ 
sion  of  Hampton’s  opportunity.  With  the  most  modest  es¬ 
timate  of  his  own  part  in  its  service,  he  had  the  happiness 
to  see,  under  his  administration,  its  buildings  multiplied, 
its  standards  advanced,  its  staff  of  teachers  strengthened, 
and  in  the  twenty  years  of  his  presidency  its  invested 
property  increased  eightfold,  from  $379,000  to  $2,642,000. 

In  1899  a  larger  area  of  service  opened  before  him. 
A  few  Northern  and  Southern  men  had  met  in  1898  at 
Capon  Springs  for  a  conference  on  education  in  the  South, 
and  the  Principal  of  Hampton  discerned  in  this  gathering 
a  new  opportunity  for  co-operative  deliberation.  Mr.  Og¬ 
den  responded  with  enthusiasm  to  this  new  call  and  invit¬ 
ed  a  considerable  company  of  friends  to  attend  the  sec¬ 
ond  session  of  the  conference,  to  procure  a  frank  and  fra¬ 
ternal  interchange  of  views  between  the  two  sections  of 
our  common  land.  It  was  the  first  of  a  series  of  such 
journeys,  which  proved  to  be  missionary  enterprises  for 
the  instruction  of  the  North  as  well  as  sources  of  new 
confidence  and  inspiration  for  the  disheartened  but  indom¬ 
itable  South.  Many  a  guest  recalls  with  permanent  grat¬ 
itude  the  happy  intimacies  and  high  discourse  of  that 
memorable  companionship,  and  dates  from  it  a  new  faith 
in  national  unity,  based  on  national  idealism.  To  all  who 
shared  that  happy  fellowship  there  comes  today  the  gentle 
memory  of  their  genial  host,  tireless  in  courtesy,  sleepless 


A  LIFE  WELL  LIVED 


1 


till  all  others  slept,  yet  ever  aware  of  the  larger  mission 
involved,  and  looking  past  the  recreation  of  the  hour  to 
the  grave  problems  of  reconciliation  and  education  which 
lay  beyond. 

Consequences  even  more  conspicuous  and  far-reach¬ 
ing  have  followed  from  these  surveys  of  the  South. 
At  the  Conference  this  year  in  Richmond,  the  United 
States  Commissioner  of  Education  did  not  hesitate  to  af¬ 
firm  that  both  of  the  organizations  which  have  done  such 
unparalleled  service  for  American  education — the  South¬ 
ern  Education  Board  with  its  program  of  encouragement 
for  the  South,  and  the  General  Education  Board  with  its 
vast  operations  in  all  parts  of  the  country,  for  education  in 
the  universities,  the  secondary  and  rural  schools,  and  for 
national  sanitation — may  be  traced  in  their  origins  to  these 
meetings  over  which  Mr.  Ogden  presided,  and  in  whose 
development  he  had  so  dominant  a  share.  Many  influen¬ 
ces  have  conspired  to  accomplish  these  great  ends,  and 
many  minds  have  been  stirred  by  this  national  opportunity, 
but  it  is  most  touching  and  impressive  to  remember  today 
that  the  new  call  came  to  at  least  one  leader  because  he 
had  already  committed  himself  to  the  care  of  Hampton, 
and  had  been  touched  by  its  spirit— the  spirit  not  of  sacri¬ 
fice,  but  of  privilege  and  love— so  that  among  the  causes  of 
a  better  educated  and  more  healthful  America  there  may 
be  named,  in  its  own  modest,  yet  verifiable,  place,  the  lov¬ 
ing  service  of  the  least  fortunate  and  least  honored  of  our 
population. 

We  turn  back  then  today  with  affection  and  honor  to 
this  life  and  ask  it  to  teach  us  how  to  live  and  how  to  die. 
We  hear  in  these  days  much  of  the  spirit  of  commercialism 
and  materialism  in  our  modern  world,  as  though  business 
life  were  a  form  of  warfare  and  piracy, where  the  unscrup- 


s 


A  LIFE  WELL  LIVED 


ulous  win  and  the  honorable  lose.  But  here  was  a  man 
of  large  and  exacting  cares,  buying  and  selling,  organizing 
and  building,  with  energy  and  foresight,  yet  maintaining 
among  these  tumultuous  obligations  an  interior  quietude  of 
spirit  which  illuminated  his  very  countenance,  so  that — 
as  was  said  of  Moses — “  he  wist  not  that  his  face 
shone.”  Laurence  Oliphant  once  said  that  the  greatest 
need  of  England  was  the  need  of  a  spiritually  minded  man 
of  the  world — a  man  who  could  live  in  the  world,  sharing 
its  responsiblities,  accepting  its  methods,  yet  detached 
from  it  and  superior  to  it,  as  one  who  makes  it  an  instru¬ 
ment  of  spiritual  ends.  Well,  here  was  just  such  a  man, 
needed  in  America  as  much  as  in  England — a  spiritually 
minded  man  of  the  world,  knowing  his  world  and  master¬ 
ing  it,  yet  more  intimately  knowing  himself  and  mastering 
himself,  with  the  power  of  a  spiritual  mind  ;  gaining  the 
world  without  losing  his  own  soul.  What  is  the  secret  of 
this  habit  of  mind  ?  On  what  terms  may  a  man  of  affairs 
apply  himself  to  them  without  loss  of  his  own  soul  ?  It  is 
written,  “Ye  cannot  serve  God  and  Mammon,”  but  it  is 
also  written,  “  Make  friends  of  the  Mammon  of  unright¬ 
eousness.”  Is  it  possible  to  be  a  friend  of  Mammon  with¬ 
out  being  a  servant  of  Mammon  ?  May  one  serve  God 
through  the  Mammon  of  unrighteousness  ? 

No  clearer  answer  could  be  given  to  these  searching 
questions  than  is  given  by  this  life  which  we  affectionately 
remember  today.  Its  first  admonition  is  this  :  Keep  busi¬ 
ness  itself  clean.  Purify  the  sources.  Prepare  to  meet 
thy  God,  not  on  some  distant  Judgment  Day,  but  each 
week,  downtown.  No  prodigality  in  the  giving  of  money 
can  atone  for  criminality  in  the  making  of  money.  The 
elementary  test  of  the  Christian  character  under  the  con¬ 
ditions  of  the  modern  world  is  not  in  one’s  giving  but  in 


A  LIFE  WELL  LIVED 


) 


one’s  getting,  not  in  one’s  church  but  in  one’s  office. 

The  second  teaching  is  this  :  Attach  yourself  to  a 
great  cause,  lift  your  eyes  from  your  desk,  enlarge  your  ho¬ 
rizon,  live  in  a  large  world,  know  how  the  other  half  lives 
This  is  not  only  the  way  of  philanthrophy,  it  is  the  way  of 
self-discovery.  It  is  not  only  the  helping  of  others,  but 
the  saving  of  one’s  own  soul.  The  self-centered  life  inev¬ 
itably  shrivels  ;  the  self-forgetting  life  naturally  expands, 
until  modest  capacities  and  limited  gifts  may  bloom  into 
leadership,  power,  and  even  genius,  under  the  sunshine  of 
a  compelling  and  expanding  cause.  That  was  what  hap¬ 
pened  to  this  man.  The  consecration  of  his  powers  en¬ 
riched  and  enlarged  them.  The  great  cause  created  in  him 
wisdom  and  statesmanship,  and  even  touched  his  lips 
with  eloquence.  He  was  among  us  as  one  that  served, 
and  that  proved  his  right  to  lead  us  all. 

There  remains,  finally,  the  condition  of  efficiency 
which  was  most  marked  in  our  friend.  It  was  the  power 
of  a  simple,  uncomplicated,  and  consistent  religious  faith. 
Speaking  of  Armstrong  in  the  first  Founder’s  Day  address 
at  Hampton,  Mr.  Ogden  said,  “Only  upon  the  high  spir¬ 
itual  theory  can  we  explain  the  power  of  the  life  which  we 
are  now  considering.”  The  same  high  spiritual  theory  is 
the  key  which  unlocks  his  own  character.  It  was  said  of 
Count  Zinzendorf,  the  protector  of  the  Moravians,  that  he 
could  ride  the  wildest  horse  in  his  father’s  stable,  and 
when  asked  how  he  could  be  at  once  a  Pietist  and  an  ath¬ 
lete,  answered,  “Only  he  to  whom  earthly  things  are  in¬ 
different  can  be  their  master.”  The  control  of  the  physi¬ 
cal  was  a  witness  to  the  spiritual.  Courage  came  from 
above.  The  spiritual  mind  dominated  the  animal  world. 
There  was  the  same  source  of  tranquillity,  assurance,  and 
patience,  in  the  life  of  our  friend.  He  had  surrendered 


19 


A  LIFE  WELL  LIVED 


himself,  and  so  he  had  found  himself.  He  came  not  to  do 
his  own  will,  but  the  will  of  Him  who  sent  him,  and  so  his 
own  will  grew  firm  and  sure.  He  was  indifferent  to  power 
and  fame,  and  so  he  won  the  greater  distinction  of  being 
loved  and  mourned.  Crushing  sorrows  met  him,  but  his 
own  burden  grew  lighter  because  he  took  on  himself  the 
burdens  of  other  lives.  It  was  written  of  old,  “He  hath 
made  all  things  beautiful  in  their  time ;  also  he  has  set 
Eternity  in  their  hearts. ”  That  is  the  story  of  this  mod¬ 
ern  life.  Each  event  was  beautiful  to  him  in  its  time  be¬ 
cause  he  had  set  Eternity  in  his  heart.  He  had  heard  the 
great  word,  “  I  am  come  not  to  be  ministered  unto  but  to 
minister  and  to  give  my  life  a  ransom  for  many  ;  ”  but  it 
was,  to  him,  not  a  summons  to  sacrifice  and  resignation  so 
much  as  a  call  to  privilege  and  joy. 

I  shall  never  forget  going  one  day  into  the  great  busi¬ 
ness  establishment  which  he  had  created,  and  mounting 
from  floor  to  floor  through  the  busy  crowds  until  I  came  at 
last  to  a  little  upper  room.  There,  above  the  noises  of 
trade,  a  dozen  of  the  busiest  of  business  men  sat  in  quiet 
deliberation  concerning  great  projects  of  national  welfare, 
and  interchanged  their  dreams  of  the  better  America 
which  they  saw,  not  by  sight,  but  by  faith.  It  was  a  symbol 
of  religion  in  the  twentieth  century,  of  a  faith  known  by  its 
works,  of  a  service  which  was  perfect  freedom,  of  the 
spiritualization  which  is  still  possible  for  men  of  the  world. 
One  thought  of  an  upper  room  above  the  bustle  of  Jerusa¬ 
lem,  where  the  Master  said,  “  I  have  given  you  an  exam¬ 
ple  that  ye  should  do  even  as  I  have  done  to  you.”  Nor 
was  the  Master  himself  absent ;  for  it  was  in  His  name 
that  these  men  met,  and  it  was  to  them  also  that  He  said, 
“  Where  two  or  three  are  gathered  together  in  My  name, 
there  am  I  in  the  midst  of  them.” 


ROBERT  C.  OGDEN’S  LABORS  IN  THE  SOUTH  * 


BY  SAMUEL  CHILES  MITCHELL,  Ph.D. 

President  of  the  Medical  College  of  Virginia 

THE  projectile  power  of  personality  was  happily  set 
forth  in  the  results  of  the  labors  for  the  South  of 
Robert  G.  Ogden.  It  is  instructive  to  study  his  plans  for 
the  improvement  of  public  schools,  for  the  betterment  of 
farming,  for  the  enrichment  of  rural  life,  for  racial  adjust¬ 
ment  and  social  progress.  It  is  pleasing  to  tabulate  the 
statistics  that  show  the  increase  in  school  revenues,  in  the 
attendance  of  children,  in  the  efficiency  of  teaching,  and 
in  the  moral  support  given  to  public  education  during 
the  past  decade  in  the  South.  But  unless  we  regard  all 
of  these  achievements  as  simply  bodying  forth  the  dynamic 
force  of  personality,  we  shall  not  interpret  aright  this  edu¬ 
cational  renaissance,  so  far  as  our  leader  affected  the 
results. 

Mr.  Ogden’s  personality  was  contagious.  He  be¬ 
came  a  center  in  organizing  constructive  friendships. 
When  he  began  his  labors  in  the  South  for  universal  edu¬ 
cation,  there  were  isolated  workers  in  the  several  states 
unacquainted  with  one  another,  without  any  large  view  of 
the  general  task,  and  without  an  interchange  of  common 
experience.  His  presence  instantly  caused  all  of  these 
workers  to  leap  together,  just  as  atoms  form  a  new  com¬ 
bination  in  the  laboratory  induced  by  the  presence  of  a 
single  new  element.  He  had  a  rare  faculty  for  the  dis¬ 
covery  of  men  and  of  their  aptitude  for  social  leadership. 

*  An  address  at  the  Ogden  Memorial  Service  at  the  Central  Presbyterian  Church, 
New  York,  October  26,  1913 


12 


A  LIFE  WELL  LIVED 


Surpassing  even  his  joy  in  the  discovery  of  talent  was  his 
delight  in  opening  up  a  career  for  a  man  of  this  sort  to  de¬ 
ploy  his  power.  His  eye  seemed  to  rest  upon  every  work¬ 
er,  and  all  of  us  shared  in  the  inspiration  and  strength 
that  his  sympathetic  interest  daily  imparted. 

The  great  thing,  however,  about  Mr.  Ogden  was  not 
merely  his  sagacity  as  to  the  way  in  which  to  do  the  things 
that  were  really  worth  while  in  the  national  life,  unerring 
as  his  sagacity  was  in  the  choice  of  men  and  measures. 
It  was  not  even  his  passionate  love  for  people,  and 
especially  people  disadvantaged  and  in  need.  But  the 
great  thing  in  him  was  his  faith  in  the  capacity  of  men  to 
grow,  his  faith  in  the  essential  goodness  of  the  human 
heart,  his  faith  in  the  subtle  potency  of  reason,  when  train¬ 
ed  and  rightly  directed — in  a  word,  his  faith  in  man  under 
the  influence  of  truth  and  love.  It  was  this  structural 
faith  that  sustained  him  in  his  great  labors,  that  enabled 
him  to  overcome  all  barriers,  and  that  swept  him  forward 
with  a  purpose  that  moved  majestically,  like  a  force  in 
nature. 

I  can  never  forget  the  first  time  that  I  saw  him,  when 
he  stood  upon  the  platform  at  Hampton  Institute,  giving  a 
fatherly  message  to  the  graduating  class  of  Indian  and 
colored  youth  that  stood  before  him.  He  seemed  to 
breathe  into  the  characters  of  those  people  his  own  large 
spirit  of  faith,  encouragement,  aspiration,  and  spirit  of 
social  service.  My  thought  of  Divinity  became  clearer 
and  more  concrete  as  I  listened  to  his  words  of  wisdom 
and  of  love. 

His  philanthropy  took  naturally  the  form  of  a  structural 
purpose;  namely,  to  achieve  for  the  South  through  the  train¬ 
ing  of  children  and  through  the  process  of  social  growth, 
results  which  all  other  means,  including  war  and  politics, 


A  LIVE  WELL  LIVED 


U 


had  been  unable  to  produce.  The  chief  evil  of  slavery 
was  not  economic  nor  political,  but  mental  and  moral. 
Slavery  tended  to  gag  the  South.  Its  sole  imperative  was: 
Thou  shalt  not  think.  Hence  this  movement  sought  to 
revive  discussion,  to  interpret  in  terms  of  education  all 
the  factors  in  the  life  of  the  South.  “  Democracy  is  gov¬ 
ernment  by  discussion,”  says  Woodrow  Wilson,  and  the 
principle  implied  in  this  remark  was  invoked  in  the  South. 
Future-heartedness  marked  the  movement  from  the  be¬ 
ginning.  It  was  forward-looking.  It  cherished  the  past, 
to  be  sure,  in  order  to  draw  thence  strength  for  the  tasks 
of  today.  The  word  education  does  not  begin  to  cover 
the  complex  bundle  of  activities  surging  in  this  movement. 
It  developed  in  the  South  a  party  of  progress,  a  platform 
for  frank  discussion  of  present-day  facts.  It  called  forth 
a  body  of  literature  surcharged  with  social  and  moral 
energies  of  transforming  power.  These  structural  pur¬ 
poses  bespeak  the  statesman  rather  than  the  schoolman. 
Mr.  Ogden  was  a  statesman,  a  state-builder  after  the  order 
of  Horace  Mann,  Gavour,  and  Gladstone,  all  of  whom 
put  their  trust  in  truth  and  relied  upon  the  subtle  force  of 
growth  to  achieve  great  national  ends.  They  knew  full 
well  that  “  in  the  long  run  the  forces  go  with  the  virtues.” 
Mr.  Ogden  was  the  greatest  benefactor  that  the  South  has 
known  since  Appomattox. 

Sir  Horace  Plunkett,  while  sitting  in  the  British  Par¬ 
liament  for  eight  years,  discerned  that  England  in  apply¬ 
ing  for  centuries  political  remedies  to  Ireland’s  economic 
wrongs  had  failed.  It  occurred  to  him  one  day  that  it 
might  be  well  to  apply  economic  remedies  to  Ireland’s 
economic  wrongs.  He  left  his  seat  in  Parliament,  went 
to  Ireland  and  began  to  improve  the  farms,  to  sweeten 
the  homes,  to  establish  co-operative  dairies,  and  to  enrich 


14 


A  WELL  LIVED  LIFE 


the  life  of  the  people  through  efficient  schools,  libraries, 
and  social  gatherings.  A  humble  program,  to  be  sure, 
but  it  is  remaking  Ireland — something  that  eight  centuries 
of  “  blood  and  iron  ”  had  been  unable  to  do. 

So  in  the  South  the  strong  wind,  the  earthquake,  and 
the  devastating  fire  swept  by.  God  was  in  none  of  these, 
but  in  the  still  small  voice  that  whispered  an  electric  mes¬ 
sage  to  the  heart  of  the  child  and  strung  with  energy  his 
arm  for  the  achievement  of  great  social  and  national  ends. 
I  believe  that  it  was  given  to  a  business  man  to  hit  upon 
a  sounder  principle  for  economic  progress,  racial  adjust¬ 
ment,  and  national  integration  than  was  vouchsafed  to  any 
politician  or  general  in  the  annals  of  America.  The  con¬ 
quests  of  education  alone  are  enduring.  “  One  former  is 
worth  a  dozen  reformers.”  What  a  lurid  glare  is  shed 
upon  the  follies  and  wastes  of  War  and  Reconstruction  in 
view  of  the  beneficent  changes  wrought  by  these  silent 
forces  of  light  and  love.  Never  was  more  finely  revealed 
the  regenerative  impulse  in  the  heart  of  man  than  the 
signal  results  of  this  educational  movement  through  the 
power  of  public  opinion.  In  the  case  of  millions  of  chil¬ 
dren,  Mr.  Ogden  “  thinks  in  their  brain,  throbs  in  their 
heart,  speaks  in  their  conscience,  and  makes  their  will 
leap  like  a  resolute  muscle  to  its  task  in  fulfilling  the  will 
of  God.” 

While  Mr.  Ogden  was  a  statesman  in  his  grasp  of  the 
complex  situation  in  the  South,  he  was  also  a  teacher, 
but  a  teacher  through  inspiring  companionships  after  the 
order  of  Socrates  and  Jesus.  He  trained  a  group  of  social 
workers  who  even  at  this  early  time  are  displaying  power 
in  foreign  embassies,  in  the  Cabinet  at  Washington,  in  the 
Federal  Bureau  of  Education,  and  in  the  international  task 
of  public  health  and  sanitation.  These  men  all  account  it 


A  LIFE  WELL  LIVED 


15 


among  the  highest  privileges  in  their  life  to  have  felt  the 
throb  of  his  loving  heart. 

He  was  by  instinct  a  leader,  a  big  brother  of  mankind, 
yet  he  delighted  to  follow.  In  many  instances  he  took  up 
other  men’s  tasks  and  pushed  them  to  a  completion  hardly 
dreamed  of  by  the  men  who  first  conceived  the  enter¬ 
prises.  At  Hampton  he  took  up  the  task  of  Armstrong. 
In  1900  he  took  up  the  task  of  public  education  in  the 
South  begun  by  J.  L.  M.  Gurry  and  the  elect  band  of  men 
who  had  met  three  years  before  at  Capon  Springs  to  con¬ 
cert  plans  for  bettering  the  common  schools.  Mr.  Ogden 
was  daring  in  conception,  but  he  was  no  less  great  in  his 
appropriating  power.  Like  a  master  builder,  he  made  a 
wise  use  of  ail  materials  at  hand.  He  entered  into  the 
vision  that  had  come  to  such  men  as  George  Foster 
Peabody,  Edwin  A.  Alderman,  Hollis  B.  Frissell,  Wallace 
Buttrick,  Philander  P.  Glaxton,  Walter  H.  Page,  Charles 
W.  Dabney,  and  F.  T.  Gates.  Mr.  Ogden’s  sympathies 
grasped  the  situation  in  the  South,  emerging  slowly  from 
the  waste  of  war  and  sorrow  of  defeat.  He  discerned  at 
a  glance  what  an  aroused  public  opinion  could  do  for 
progress  through  the  common  schools.  His  strategy  con¬ 
sisted,  not  in  money,  not  in  the  creation  of  new  agencies, 
not  in  the  attempt  to  impose  ideas  and  institutions  upon  a 
people,  but  in  his  belief  in  the  ability  of  the  people  of  the 
South  to  do  for  themselves  the  things  necessary  for  their 
own  well-being.  He  coveted  the  privilege  of  sym¬ 
pathizing  with  the  South  in  accomplishing  these  great 
social  ends  and  in  sharing  and  strengthening  the  impulses 
of  the  men  who  were  bent  on  their  accomplishment. 

He  had  no  ambition  to  be  the  founder  of  an  insti¬ 
tution.  His  name  is  identified  with  a  movement,  and  not 
with  an  institution.  He  preferred  to  vitalize  the  nascent 


16 


A  LIFE  WELL  LIVED 


common  school  system.  He  integrated  all  his  efforts 
with  what  the  towns,  counties,  and  states  had  already 
undertaken.  The  wisdom  of  this  plan  has  been  abun¬ 
dantly  justified.  He  multiplied  himself  a  million  times  by 
inciting  the  whole  citizenship  to  get  underneath  the  task 
and  to  energize  the  schools  as  a  means  of  social  progress. 
The  principle  upon  which  he  thus  acted  is  of  wide  and 
present  application.  Only  the  state,  through  the  power 
of  public  taxation,  is  equal  to  the  task  of  training  all  the 
children  for  the  duties  of  citizenship  in  democracy.  The 
main  thing  is  to  stimulate  the  people  of  a  community  to 
do  well  by  their  own  schools.  The  principle  of  local 
taxation,  the  necessity  of  community  control,  and  the 
power  of  public  opinion  were  the  three  prime  factors  in 
his  plan  of  educational  campaign  for  the  South.  The 
fruitfulness  of  his  labors  sprang  naturally  out  of  the  force 
inherent  in  these  three  principles.  He  built,  therefore, 
not  for  a  day,  but  for  the  ages.  Instead  of  being  able  to 
point  to  a  single  school  that  bore  his  name,  he  could  point 
to  state  systems  of  schools  into  which  he  had  breathed 
the  energy  of  his  own  great  personality. 

Once  as  I  sat  in  his  office  in  New  York  City  talking 
with  him  about  educational  plans  for  the  South,  I  started 
to  go,  feeling  that  I  had  detained  him  far  too  long  from 
his  business.  I  can  never  forget  the  tone  of  his  voice  as 
he  said,  in  a  firm  and  manly  way,  beckoning  me  to 
remain  seated,  “  This  comes  first.  ”  The  impulse  of  civic 
duty  then  borne  in  upon  me  was  worth  more  than  all 
the  formal  lessons  that  any  college  can  give.  He  put 
life  above  livelihood.  He  revealed  in  his  own  career  a 
fresh  discovery  of  the  divine  order.  “  Seek  ye  first  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  and  all  these  things  shall  be  added 
unto  you.”  So  unstintedly  did  he  give  himself  in  service 


A  LIFE  WELL  LIVED 


17 


to  humanity  that  it  seems  irrelevant  to  dwell  upon  the 
fact  that  he  was  generous  in  giving  of  his  own  substance  to 
the  various  causes  that  found  a  home  in  his  great  heart. 
Money,  even  his  own  money,  means  so  little  in  all  this 
as  compared  with  the  consecration  of  his  life  and  person¬ 
ality  to  the  good  of  others.  He  was  a  wise  worker,  but 
all  of  his  plans  displayed  the  dynamic  of  love,  the  motive 
force  of  faith. 

The  progress  of  the  South  in  education  during  the 
past  decade  is  unprecedented.  The  figures  are  like  a 
fairy  tale.  And  yet  the  fine  enthusiasm  of  the  people 
surpasses  by  far  the  import  of  any  numerical  statement. 
Take,  for  instance,  Georgia.  In  1902  the  State  was 
spending  upon  its  public  schools  $1,125,000.  Last  year  it 
spent  about  $5,125,000.  In  1902  the  value  of  school 
property  was  $4,000,000  and  within  the  decade  it  climbed 
to  more  than  $11,000,000,  an  actual  increase  of  about 
$7,000,000.  Within  the  same  period  the  number  of  school 
days  rose  from  113  to  140.  During  the  same  decade  the 
increase  in  enrollment  was  115,000  children.  The  actual 
increase  in  the  per  capita  expenditure  according  to  en¬ 
rollment  was  $6.18.  Illiteracy  among  the  whites  was  re¬ 
duced  from  12  to  7  per  cent  and  among  the  Negroes  from 
52  to  36.  This  bare  recital  of  the  advance  of  schools  in 
the  single  state  of  Georgia  is  an  index  of  the  beneficent 
changes  wrought  throughout  the  entire  South  by  the  co¬ 
operation  of  all  the  agencies  at  work  for  social  betterment. 
About  $20,000,000  was  added  annually  to  the  revenues  of 
PUBLIC  SCHOOLS  WITHIN  A  PERIOD  OF  10  years.  Since  1906 
about  1000  high  schools  have  been  established  and  de¬ 
veloped.  The  significance  of  these  figures  is  beyond  the 
power  of  words  to  express. 

In  1779  Thomas  Jefferson  drew  out  a  liberal  scheme 


18 


A.  LIVE  WELL  LIVED 


for  public  education  in  the  South,  beginning  with  elemen¬ 
tary  schools  for  all  the  people  and  rising  through  the  high 
school  to  the  state  university.  In  accordance  with  the 
social  structure  of  the  South  at  that  day,  the  only  part  of 
his  scheme  which  was  carried  out  was  the  apex;  namely, 
the  University  of  Virginia.  It  fell  to  a  later  day  to  build 
beneath  that  apex  the  solid  body  of  the  pyramid,  con¬ 
sisting  of  the  common  schools  as  the  base  and  the  high 
schools  resting  upon  them,  ail  capped  by  the  state  univer¬ 
sity.  This  solid  structure  of  public  education  is  now 
rising  in  every  Southern  state. 

Aiming  in  the  beginning  at  the  betterment  of  the 
common  schools  through  an  awakened  public  sentiment, 
Mr.  Ogden’s  purposes  gradually  widened  until  they  em¬ 
braced  all  the  activities  making  for  progress  in  the  South. 
He  became  in  turn  connected  with  the  country  life  move¬ 
ment,  with  vast  plans  in  the  interest  of  public  health  and 
endowment  of  colleges ;  with  the  effort  to  make  the 
state  university  the  moral  fortress  of  a  democratic 
commonwealth  ;  with  the  causes  of  social  unrest  through¬ 
out  the  nation  ;  with  the  housing  problem  and  the  diverse 
evils  growing  out  of  industrial  conditions  in  this  country. 
The  sweep  of  his  activity  in  all  these  fields  of  human 
needs  is  suggested  by  his  membership  in  the  General 
Education  Board,  the  Russell  Sage  Foundation,  the 
Southern  Education  Board,  the  Jeanes  Board,  and  other 
agencies  dedicated  to  the  common  good. 

When  George  Adams  Smith  was  asked  how  he 
accounted  for  the  marvelous  intellectual  output  of 
Scotland  during  recent  decades,  he  said  that  he  attributed 
it  in  no  small  degree  to  the  fact  that  in  the  seventies  Mr. 
Moody  put  every  man  and  woman  in  Scotland  to  reading 
the  Bible  with  fresh  interest.  The  intellectual  energies 


A  LIFE  WELL  LIVED 


19 


thus  aroused  had  taken,  to  be  sure,  a  direction  in  liter¬ 
ature,  science,  and  religion  undreamed  of  by  Mr.  Moody, 
who  in  this  way  imparted  the  initial  impulse  to  the  Scot¬ 
tish  mind. 

We  have  been  witnessing  in  recent  months  a  similar 
renaissance  in  the  South’s  constructive  energies  in  the 
realm  of  statesmenship  that  is  intoning  a  new  day  in  the 
national  life — a  passion  for  fair  play  in  politics,  a  search¬ 
light  of  publicity  thrown  upon  all  stages  of  legislation,  a 
conviction  that  the  whole  is  greater  than  the  part,  as 
shown  by  an  embargo  on  all  forms  of  class  rule,  the 
public  conscience  quickened  to  the  point  where  it  is  sen¬ 
sitive  to  the  appeals  of  right  and  responsive  to  the 
demands  of  progress,  a  desire  to  set  our  own  house  in 
order  because  of  a  clearer  vision  of  the  moral  mission  of 
America  in  bringing  in  an  era  of  good  will  among  mankind. 

I  am  inclined  to  think  that  many  of  these  fine  results 
are  due  to  the  stirring  of  the  mind  of  the  South  during  the 
last  decade  to  serious  thought  and  high  endeavor  as  re¬ 
gards  the  rights  of  childhood,  racial  adjustment,  social 
service,  and  the  spirit  of  nationality.  The  South  during 
this  time  has  passed  through  an  educative  process  of  rare 
power.  It  has  taken  stock  of  untoward  factors  in  its  life, 
such  as  ignorance,  poverty,  inefficiency,  sanitation,  public 
health,  and  the  twin  forces  of  sectionalism  and  sec¬ 
tarianism.  It  has  reviewed  the  past  in  contemplative 
mood.  It  has  revived  the  memories  of  the  constructive 
part  that  Southern  men  took  in  the  formative  period  of 
the  republic  as  well  as  recounted  the  facts  in  the  later 
period  of  slavery,  war,  and  reconstruction.  It  has  studied 
the  State’s  duty  to  educate  the  children  for  citizenship, 
to  insure  social  order  and  to  safeguard  public  health. 
These  vital  matters  have  been  discussed  frankly,  not  only 


20 


A  LIFE  WELL  LIVED 


in  the  great  Conferences  for  Education  in  the  South,  but 
likewise  in  rural  communities  throughout  the  entire 
region.  The  discussion  has  divided  families,  furnished 
new  views  to  editors,  and  has  proved  the  pivot  upon 
which  many  a  political  campaign  has  turned. 

It  was  impossible  for  the  minds  of  millions  of  people  to 
be  thus  stirred  to  the  depths  by  elemental  forces  without 
the  generation  of  large  civic  impulses  and  new  ideals. 
This  educational  movement  modernized  the  Southern 
mind,  related  it  anew  to  the  larger  facts  in  the  world 
today,  and  gave  the  people  of  the  South  a  new  sense  of 
their  latent  power  and  the  possibilities  of  co-operation  for 
nobler  ends.  The  decade  marked  a  return  to  fundamen¬ 
tals,  such  as  the  fertility  of  the  soil,  upon  which  the  home, 
school,  and  church  depend  ;  such  as  the  duty  of  the  State 
to  the  child  in  a  democracy  like  ours ;  such  as  the  relation 
of  health  to  social  progress  and  intellectual  power ;  such 
as  the  necessity  of  co-operation  for  the  growth  of 
community  life ;  such  as  the  benefits  to  be  derived  from 
international  experience  in  working  out  local  problems 
touching  the  farm,  school,  sanitation,  and  racial  adjust¬ 
ment. 

Mr.  Ogden’s  career  was  as  a  golden  clasp  binding 
together  the  North  and  South  in  sympathy  and  co-oper¬ 
ation  for  the  integrity  of  national  life.  He  enlisted 
throughout  the  North  men  and  women  of  initiative  as  co¬ 
workers  in  the  tasks  of  the  South-  With  him  this  noble 
band  of  friends  would  make  an  annual  pilgrimage  to 
the  Conference  for  Education,  study  the  facts  in  the 
Southern  situation  for  themselves,  and  strike  friendships 
there  of  enduring  and  fruitful  character.  It  is  not  too 
much  to  say  that  Mr.  Ogden  in  this  way  changed  radi¬ 
cally  the  viewpoint  of  the  North  with  reference  to  the 


A  LIFE  WELL  LIVED 


21 


South,  rendering  editors,  publicists,  and  educators  in  the 
North  sympathetic  with  the  struggle  of  the  South  and 
eager  to  aid  on  all  occasions  the  forces  there  making  for 
practical  righteousness.  These  kindly  interlacing  in¬ 
fluences  of  the  North  and  South  have  perhaps  done  more 
toward  reuniting  the  sections  in  a  common  purpose  and 
like-mindedness  than  any  other  single  agency  in  the  his¬ 
tory  of  our  country  since  the  Civil  War. 

Thus,  in  these  two  ways,  Mr.  Ogden’s  efforts  in  behalf 
of  public  education  have  a  distinctly  national  bearing: 
First,  by  stirring  to  the  very  depths  the  mind  of  the 
South  through  the  discussion  of  the  vital  facts  involved  in 
democratic  education ;  and,  secondly,  by  knitting  the 
sympathies  of  the  leaders  in  the  North  and  in  the  South, 
revealing  their  oneness  in  the  fellowship  of  social  service 
and  in  a  common  purpose  embracing  the  good  of  the 
whole  country.  Never  more  happily  was  illustrated  the 
meaning  of  that  Scripture :  “  A  little  child  shall  lead 
them,  ”  for  it  was  the  efforts  to  open  for  the  child  the 
door  to  a  larger  life  that  brought  about  these  signal  results 
in  social  progress  and  national  unification. 

Mr.  Ogden  gave  a  new  interpretation  to  the  meaning 
of  American  citizenship.  He  had  a  scent  for  human 
need.  He  socialized  his  life  and  energies.  Friendship 
was  the  essence  of  his  working  program.  His  hospi¬ 
tality  was  kingly  and  the  list  of  his  friends  would  make  up 
the  honor  roll  of  America.  There  can  be  no  pessimism 
in  the  presence  of  such  an  example.  All  problems  dis¬ 
solve  as  retreating  clouds  before  the  outreach  of  such  a 
personality.  So  long  as  exalted  citizenship  in  the  private 
walks  of  life  reveal  the  sanity  and  sacrifice  that  character¬ 
ized  Robert  G.  Ogden,  there  can  be  no  doubt  as  to 
America’s  fulfilling  the  moral  expectancy  of  mankind. 
“  The  character  of  the  citizen  is  the  strength  of  the  State.” 


ROBERT  G.  OGDEN,  THE  PHILANTHROPIST  * 


BY  WILLIAM  HOWARD  TAFT.  LL.D. 

THOUGH  the  burden  of  many  engagements  would, 
under  ordinary  conditions,  prevent  my  coming  to 
Brooklyn  this  afternoon,  I  could  not  refuse  the  invitation 
to  lay  a  tribute  of  respect  on  the  bier  of  one  whom  I  feel 
it  an  inspiration  to  have  known,  and  an  honor  to  be  allow¬ 
ed  to  call  a  friend. 

We  live  in  an  age  in  which  there  is  real  encourage¬ 
ment  for  hope  of  the  world’s  and  the  country’s  spiritual 
and  moral  improvement  in  the  awakened  human  sympathy 
that  manifests  itself,  not  only  in  a  greater  public  interest  in 
promoting  the  welfare  of  those  who  have  fallen  behind  in 
the  race  of  life  and  are  not  sharing,  as  they  should,  the 
benefit  of  the  general  comfort,  but  also  in  the  increased 
sense  of  personal  responsibility  on  the  part  of  those  who 
now  have  the  means  of  helping  others,  leading  them  to 
exert  every  effort  to  make  these  means  effective.  It  is 
not  possible,  of  course,  that  such  a  movement  could  acquire 
as  wide  popular  support  as  this,  without  prompting  some 
to  take  advantage  of  the  fraternal  sentiment  aroused  and 
turn  it  to  their  own  selfish  ends.  Then  there  are  others, 
not  influenced  by  motives  of  either  gain  or  political 
ambition,  who  love  to  do  the  thing  which  is  the  vogue, 
and  who  are  busybodies  seeking  the  limelight,  and  gratify¬ 
ing  their  vanity  by  activities  which  are  not  prompted 
especially  by  the  true  spirit  of  the  good  Samaritan.  They 
make  broad  their  phylacteries  and  are  more  interested  in 
the  personal  part  they  play  in  these  altruistic  efforts  than 

*  Address  at  the  Ogden  Memorial  Service  in  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  Brooklyn, 
November  9,  1913 


A  LIFE  WELL  LIVED 


23 


they  are  in  the  good  they  do  for  the  proper  and  deserving 
beneficiaries  of  their  activities. 

Then  there  are  those  who  are  made  hysterical  by  the 
view  that  the  millennium  is  at  hand,  that  sin  ought  to  dis¬ 
appear,  that  there  can  be  no  suffering  or  poverty  for  which 
the  world  and  society  are  not  directly  responsible,  and 
cannot  eliminate  over  night ;  who  focus  their  eyes  on  some 
foul  spot  and  measure  the  progress  of  society  by  a  con¬ 
stant  contemplation  of  that  particular  rottenness  to  which 
their  attention  has  been  directed.  They  thus  lose  all  sense 
of  proportion  with  reference  to  the  world  in  general,  and 
the  average  good  intentions  of  the  present  average  mem¬ 
ber  of  society.  They  are  not  content  unless  all  legislation 
and  all  charitable  effort  shall  be  concentrated  to  remove 
the  especial  evil  that  they  in  their  earnestness  think  they 
have  discovered.  By  nothing  I  have  said  would  I  minimize 
the  importance  that  I  sincerely  attach  to  this  awakened 
sense  of  brotherhood,  this  wider  and  intenser  philanth¬ 
ropy,  the  existence  of  which  everyone  must  recognize. 
With  the  plans  for  satisfying  its  practical  aspirations,  every¬ 
one  must  deeply  sympathize.  But  in  our  admiration  for 
it  and  our  wish  to  make  it  useful  and  permanent,  we  must 
use  some  discrimination  in  our  approval  of  those  plans 
that  are  sane  and  practical  and  those  which  are  merely 
fantastic,  the  result  of  misdirected  enthusiasm.  These 
unwise  proposals  and  propaganda  are  merely  ephemeral, 
as  I  hope  and  believe,  and  should  not  be  allowed  to  divert 
the  strong,  healthful  current  of  brotherly  love  that  has 
manifested  itself  so  clearly  in  the  present  decade.  If 
encouraged,  they  will  tend  to  obstruct  it  and  end  its  use¬ 
fulness  by  ill-advised  exhibitions  of  extreme  emotionalism 
that  must  inspire  ridicule  and  cynicism.  Nothing  will 
bring  so  quickly  a  benumbing  reaction  paralyzing  in  its 


24 


A  LIFE  WELL  LIVED 


effect.  It  constitutes  the  greatest  danger  such  a  real  move¬ 
ment  for  good  has  to  meet. 

We  are  living  in  an  age  of  such  hysterical  outbursts. 
They  are  inevitable,  I  admit,  but  they  must  be  shown  to 
lack  the  sympathy  of  sensible  workers  in  the  field  of  phil¬ 
anthropy.  Now  one  of  the  great  conserving  and  conserva¬ 
tive  factors  in  making  clear  such  mistakes  of  misdirected 
enthusiasm  and  absence  of  common  sense,  and  mitigat¬ 
ing  their  possible  danger,  is  the  influence  and  example  ot 
a  man  like  Robert  G.  Ogden,  whose  life  has  been  devoted 
to  the  cause  of  the  purest  philanthropy,  who  did  everything 
he  did  to  accomplish  the  high,  ultimate  purpose  that  he 
had  in  mind — to  furnish  opportunity  for  self-help  to  an 
unfortunate  race  and  a  retarded  section  of  our  country. 
He  brought  to  the  task  a  business  genius,  a  calm  and  quiet 
persistence  of  purpose,  a  clear  judgment,  a  Christian 
character  of  serene  purity,  and  an  utter  lack  of  self¬ 
exploitation. 

We  are  not  able  now  fully  and  justly  to  estimate  the 
value  of  his  work  for  the  education  of  the  Negro  and  for 
education  generally  in  the  South,  because  he  was  taken 
from  us  in  the  doing.  We  do  not  know  much  of  what  he  has 
done,  but  we  do  know  its  great  value.  His  plans,  how¬ 
ever,  like  those  of  wise  men  generally,  were  so  broad,  his 
look  into  the  future  was  so  extended,  his  ideas  were  so 
sane  and  practical,  that  not  for  many  years  yet  can  we 
weigh  all  the  good  that  he  planned  and  did,  in  its  ultimate 
effect  upon  a  section  of  this  country  whose  social  history 
has  been  full  of  difficult  problems,  and  for  a  race  of  which 
this  people  must  be  trustees  and  guardians  for  many 
decades  to  come. 

It  was  my  good  fortune  to  be  associated  with  Mr. 
Ogden  in  several  of  the  many  projects  for  the  betterment 


A  LIFE  WELL  LIVED 


25 


of  the  Negro  and  of  education,  which  claimed  and  had  his 
interest  and  his  effective  support.  When  I  speak  of  the 
elevating  effect  that  association  with  him  had,  I  speak 
from  personal  knowledge.  And  the  same  thing  is  true 
when  I  speak  of  his  clear-sightedness,  his  very  great 
experience  and  knowledge,  and  his  most  valuable  judg¬ 
ment  on  what  was  practical  and  what  was  not,  in  the 
objects  to  be  pursued  to  bring  about  a  betterment  of  edu¬ 
cational  and  social  conditions  in  the  South. 

One  object  of  this  meeting,  I  understand,  is  to  com¬ 
memorate  Mr.  Ogden’s  relation  to  Hampton  Institute. 
Whether  I  am  right  in  this  or  not,  certainly  no  feature  of 
Mr.  Ogden’s  activities  better  deserves  to  be  recalled  and 
emphasized  than  what  he  did  for  Hampton.  He 
did  it  because  he  knew  that  Hampton  Institute  was 
the  mother  of  the  movement  toward  the  vocational  better¬ 
ment  of  society,  white  and  black,  throughout  the  country. 
There  began  the  plan  to  prepare  men  and  women  in  their 
youth  to  do  well  the  work  they  are  to  do  in  life,  to  fit 
them  to  get  as  much  for  themselves  and  for  society  out  of 
their  labor  as  the  intelligent  training  of  hands  and  facul¬ 
ties  by  actual  trial  will  secure.  I  regret  to  say  that  in  all 
the  enormous  sums  given  for  philanthropy,  in  which  we 
greatly  rejoice,  there  has  been  some  lack  of  clear  per¬ 
ception  by  the  donors  of  the  very  great  part  that  Hamp¬ 
ton  has  played  in  the  saving  of  an  unfortunate  race, 
and  in  furnishing  opportunity  for  its  self-elevation. 
Otherwise  Dr.  Frissell,  the  sane  and  saint-like  successor 
of  General  Armstrong,  would  not  still  be  obliged  to 
spend  most  of  his  time  and  injure  his  valuable  health  in 
begging  funds  enough  to  meet  Hampton’s  current 
expenses.  Mr.  Ogden  knew  this  well,  and  greatly  de¬ 
plored  the  fact;  and  one  of  the  greatest  blows  that 


26 


A  LIFE  WELL  LIVED 


Hampton  has  suffered  is  the  taking  of  Mr.  Ogden  from 
among  us.  When  Dr.  Frissell  was  himself  recovering 
from  a  severe  illness,  which  his  untiring  and  exhausting 
activity  in  behalf  of  his  institution  had  brought  about,  I 
know  that  he  felt  that  the  greatest  affliction  that  could 
come  to  him  and  his  cause  was  the  loss  of  Mr.  Ogden. 
In  season  and  out  of  season,  Mr.  Ogden  stood  by  him, 
stood  by  the  work,  aided  him  in  securing  the  needed 
financial  help,  understood  the  burden  he  had  to  carry, 
and  had  that  kind  of  deep  but  intelligent  sympathy  with 
the  fight  he  was  making  that  helps  one  in  a  great  struggle. 

I  did  not  come  here  to  make  an  address.  I  have  had 
no  time  to  prepare  one  in  the  multitude  of  duties  that 
have  forced  themselves  upon  me  in  a  new  vocation,  but  I 
have  felt  that  I  must  say  this  much  merely  as  testimony 
of  an  eyewitness.  I  cannot  close  without  an  expression 
of  the  personal  love  that  the  beautiful  character  and 
charming  personality  of  Mr.  Ogden  awakened  in  every¬ 
one  who  was  privileged  to  come  in  contact  with  him. 
His  sense  of  duty  as  a  citizen  was  not  in  the  slightest 
degree  dimmed  or  made  less  strong  because  he  had  also 
a  wider  sympathy  for  mankind;  but  there  was  united  in 
him  with  energy  and  a  knowledge  of  how  to  do  things,  a 
sweet  reasonableness,  an  elevated  enthusiasm,  and  a  sane 
courage  and  hope  that  one  can  never  forget.  He  repre¬ 
sented  in  the  highest  sense  the  real  Christian  gentleman, 
and  it  is  no  reflection  on  those  whom  he  has  left,  to  say 
that  it  will  be  many  years  before  the  world  will  look 
upon  his  like  again. 


